Cattāri Brahmavihārā

Posted by: Michael | 08/10/2017

Machig Labdron and Euthanasia

A student of hers came upon a dying horse suffering terribly on the side of a road. The animal couldn’t right himself, and crows were picking out his eyes. The student ran to Machig Labdron and asked, “Wouldn’t it be better to kill him and end his suf-fering?”

She answered, “Kill only when you can see a be-ing’s karma and can be certain that you are bringing his suffering to an end. This horse is on his way to the hell realms. These few moments of pain are purifying karma that would otherwise lead to far greater misery.”

Before you take the life of any being, you’d better be sure that where he is going is better than where he is.

[…]

Excerpt From: "Change of Heart: The Bodhisattva Peace Training of Chagdud Tulku" by Lama Shenpen Drolma.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: euthanasia, kamma, Machig Labdron

Posted by: Michael | 08/10/2017

Don’t Become Disillusioned

The worst suffering of animals and humans is a thousand times less severe than that of beings in the hell realms. If we become more aware of what it must be like to be a hell-realm being, we will never become disillusioned with our human existence, despite terrible illness, chronic pain, a miserable family life, or abject poverty.

Excerpt From: "Change of Heart: The Bodhisattva Peace Training of Chagdud Tulku" by Lama Shenpen Drolma.

How quick I am to anger and how ready am I to forgive myself an outburst without contemplating on the true extent of the harm I've done myself. May I recognize the precious opportunity of this human life and strive on to overcome anger, hatred and resentment by a variety of skillful means.

I've recently returned to counseling but it has become increasingly clear to me that so-called Western methods of talk therapy are based in a materialistic understanding of the mind and body. For my therapist, kamma and virtue aren't key factors and the resulting advice had proven to be more damaging than it is useful. Instead of advising patience, forbearance, loving-kindness and compassion my well-meaning therapist had counseled me to be combative, to look after my own "needs" at the expense of others and to pursue sense pleasures as a way of dealing with suffering.

In this short life, I can think of no higher purpose as a married layman than cultivating a kind and compassionate heart through selfless service. I tried therapy as a means to be a better husband and father but, clearly, it is not the way. Only by giving selflessly and guarding the hearty against resentment as anger can I hope to succeed.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Metta, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: anger, animal realm, hatred, Hell, selfless service, therapy

Posted by: Michael | 08/09/2017

Gratitude to Your Parents

Our parents may have been irritable or abusive, but we didn’t know or understand what they were going through. We couldn’t see the depth of their love or the causes of their conduct. We will never really understand our parents until we ourselves become parents. And by then it may be too late.

Excerpt From: "Change of Heart: The Bodhisattva Peace Training of Chagdud Tulku" by Lama Shenpen Drolma.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Family Life, Gratitude, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: Bodhisattva, parents

Posted by: Michael | 08/07/2017

It’s My Life

Going through the day there are always myriad reasons to feel outraged, wronged and slighted. Maybe I'm treated worse than others. Maybe I'm treated better. But, in the end, what matters is what I allow to occupy my mind.

It's my life and when I die where do I want this stream of consciousness to go? Do I want my last living moments to have passed pondering the faults of others and bathing my heart in the flames of anger and hatred? What kind of rebirth would lie ahead?

May I forgive all harms not solely for the benefit of others but because I care deeply about my own salvation. May I free myself from the tyranny of my defilements.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Forgiveness, Theravada | Tags: anger, death, defilements, suffering

Posted by: Michael | 08/05/2017

Desire and Lucid Dreams

Last night was the first time I can recall becoming aware that I was dreaming and intentionally acting on it. But, what happened immediately before the dream turned lucid is equally as interesting.

Sexual desire has been one of my weakest points and I struggle to keep my thoughts pure at times. And although it doesn't happen often, I have had dreams where I end up engaging in sex acts with women in my dreams. Almost invariably I am aware that, in doing so, I'm cheating on my partner which results in heavy remorse in the dream itself. Often, when this occurs, the dream will darken my day as well.

Last night, firing a certain episode, I began following a scaly clad woman down a hallway and into a room full of lockers. Our eyes met and it was clear what was about to happen but at the last moment I gained some clarity and realized that I did not want to break the third precept. With that I just walked through the room and out side.

Strangely enough when I got outside I met my business partner who was standing on the edge of the East River. He began to swim across as I realized, suddenly, that I was dreaming so could just walk across. With some trepidation I began to walk across the water and then I locked eyes with my friend who was swimming next to me. The look in his eyes was a mix of incredulity and hatred and it felt like the being with whom I had locked eyes was no longer my business partner. Only now do I think this being may have had something to do with the temptation earlier in the dream but I could be mistaken there too.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Dream Yoga | Lucid Dreaming, Sensual Desire, Sila, Theravada

Posted by: Michael | 08/04/2017

“Politics devoid of ethics does not further human welfare, and life without morality reduces humans to the…”

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Posted in Dhamma

Posted by: Michael | 08/03/2017

Of Sick Kids and Immigrants

Our morning began with the sound of my ten year old vomiting in the bathroom. Food poisoning had awoken him with diarrhea and nausea. Soon we discovered that we had forgotten to take out his contract as well which lead us on a hunt for a clinic with the proper facilities to treat him and check for any corneal abrasions.

We relied on the kindness of the hondureños and we're not disappointed. A security guard called someone he knew who then drive us all over the island until we found the right clinic. Thankfully, my son's eye will be fine but without the kindness of others we would have been out of luck.

Funny thing was that our driver had just returned from the US where he had tried to make a living but decided that the risks were too high and the rewards too few for an illegal immigrant. Beyond that, the overall atmosphere of xenophobia and racism were lived experiences that he simply couldn't escape and resulted in his eventual return.

Migrants don't emigrate for fun and, truth be told, all humans and, certainly all Euro-Americans, are descendants of immigrants themselves. When did we forget that and how did it ever become fashionable to ignore the plight of others? When did it become okay to leave people to die in the desert?

Today, we were as good as immigrants in a foreign land but our money and my skin color made it possible for us to get a sick kid the treatment he needed. I can only imagine being in the US as an immigrant and being afraid to take my son to the ER for fear of being picked up by ICE officers who lay in wait at hospitals and schools.

Without kindness and charity there is no human society. May we do our best to cultivate kindness on our lives and support organizations and parties that put a premium on compassion and respect the sanctity of human life regardless of its race, creed or country of origin.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Karuna, Metta, Theravada | Tags: immigration, Kids, kindness, migrants, sickness

Posted by: Michael | 08/02/2017

Enslaved by Sense Pleasures

It seems to me that married life and romantic relationships in general offer very little in the way of spiritual sustenance and, truth be told, are a breeding ground for the defilements. Yes, when held correctly a marriage and its attendant responsibilities can help one cultivate the paramis of dana and khanti in particular but beyond that, in my own experience, they don't do much for helping one tread other aspects of the path. In fact, I not often than not find myself angry and resentful. So, what to do?

The standard, non-Dhammic answers we get from people like our therapists and friends just don't seem to cut it. Most of these suggestions revolve around getting your desires and expectations met: goals which are base and adhamma. Clearly I would like to be treated better (who wouldn't) but that is an expectation and not the way things are. Besides, this is my kamma and my choices now perpetuate this situation.

This is ALL of my making. I could run for the hills if I cared solely about being treated a certain way. But is having everyone around me be nice to me possible? Unless you're some kind tin pot potentate surrounded by sycophants I don't think it's going to happen but would you really want that?

This resentment, bitterness, this dis-ease lives in my heart. It's not out there in another person so it really does seem to me that the issue at hand is dealing with it without excuses and without trying to assign blame. As a result, I may quit seeing my therapist because, despite being nominally Buddhist, he has spoken to me more about the Bhagavad Gita than other other religious text and seems thoroughly wedded to the Western materialist view of life. In other words, the idea of kamma has never come up in our discussions.

So, with all that being as it may, I need to make the asseveration again to bear insult and injury without complaint while holding fast to the idea that I'm no less worthy of kindness and compassion because if it. May I reflect on the Kakacupama Sutta and may I create the conditions for liberation in this life so that I may never again waste such a precious opportunity by enslaving myself to the pursuit of sense pleasures.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Family Life, Theravada | Tags: counseling, marriage, therapy

Posted by: Michael | 07/31/2017

Flying

On a plane, tens of thousands of feet above the earth on our way to Honduras via Houston, Texas. As always, there was fear and anxiety about flying in the days and hours before the flight and, as we took off, the aversion, the feeling of "I do not want this" grew stronger. And, then, at some point it stopped.

How strong is my practice? How ready am I for the death that lies in wait? Can I let go of my life, my children, my body and my family?

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Posted in Buddha, Dhamma, Maranasati, Theravada

Posted by: Michael | 07/28/2017

Mara’s Snares

I feel that I easily see the dangers on the snares of lust and hatred of others but, when it comes to self-loathing and perceptions of low self worth I know that I often take Mara's whisperings as statements of fact. But, how could they be?

When the voices in my head have terrible things to say about anyone else I immediately recognize them as dangerous but when they tell me that I'm a sham, that I need to do better and that my practice is worthless I swallow it whole. Why?

Clearly, as someone who is devoted to the practice of dana, sila and bhavana I can't be doing that badly. Even if I spent my whole life fruitlessly attending to buddho and following the five precepts what would be wrong with that? Why is that not good enough? At times like this out always helps me to see more clearly by contemplating my mind state as if it belonged to someone else. What would I tell a stranger having these thoughts of not being good enough, pure enough? I would tell them to relax and take comfort in the good they have done. To use it as a base from which to do more.

And that's precisely what I intend to do.

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Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Sila, Theravada | Tags: guilt, self-esteem, self-worth